Coffee Culture

Thomas Cook's travel guide to Albania explains that "[c]offee is the fuel that Albania really runs on, and you'll see people drinking it at all times of day." I would suggest that this description is actually an understatement. Tirane may have more coffee shops per block than Seattle (although Starbucks has not made inroads here).

"Let's have a coffee" is the most basic form of social interaction, right after "pleased to meet you." All throughout the day and well into the evening I see people in groups of two and four sipping espresso, smoking and chatting in the cafe-bars. Interestingly, I haven't seen people standing at the counter to down a quick cup as one often sees in Italy. Somehow I think that would be too perfunctory for Albanians.

And just to be clear, the ubiquity of the coffee bar is not limited to the big city of Tirane. Elsewhere in the country, a traveler must venture well off the beaten track to find a cafe-bar that doesn't have a large, well-used espresso machine proudly perched on the counter.

Okay, so the quantity is there - but what about the quality? Yes!  Most places serve the Italian coffee varieties, with Illy being a popular offering. And the people who run the machines are uniformly skilled in how to turn out a proper espresso.

Well, what about variety? Yes to that as well. Although most Albanians go with the standard espresso, all the usual formats are available, from Cappucino to plain-Jane "kafee filter." A special preparation is the "kafee turke" (Turkish style) which involves pouring hot water directly onto the ground coffee in the cup. Provided you wait for the grounds to settle before sipping, it's quite good. The resulting brew is thick enough that you almost could chew it.

Oh, and by the way, the concept of coffee "to go" is virtually unknown here. The closest thing I've seen to that is someone walking down the sidewalk carefully carrying two small porcelain cups containing espresso. Maybe that's why Starbucks hasn't bothered to move in - it's not set up to wash all those cups every day.  (It sounds as though I'm picking on Starbucks - actually I'm not - it's just that can't figure out why such a big company hasn't  tried to capitalize on this big market. Especially given the Albanians penchant for American culture).

One interesting consequence of the Albanian coffee culture is that few stores actually stock many coffee products for home consumption. I've found only one place that sells drip filters, and even the fancy Italian-import store in my neighborhood offers only one variety of ground coffee (a jumbo can of Illy espresso).

Note this bar is called "Cheers in Tirana"

Well, why bother brewing your own when in the time it would take to boil the water you can pop next door and get your caffeine at the same time you are catching up with neighborhood gossip? I think most people get their coffee from the local cafe-bar more often than they brew at home, and this seems like a neat tradition. It's so much more social than the way most Americans drink their coffee in the morning - either silently while reading the paper at home or in a paper cup in the car. Also, you don't see Albanians camped out at a coffee shop all afternoon peering intently into their laptops.

So here's to the good life, where people take a little time every day to sit with a friend, a loved one, or even alone, to enjoy a nice cup of coffee.